The good, the good and yes...the good!

Life around here has been good. Not perfect, not great, but good. Peter has been sleeping all night (from what I know) and I think that has a lot to do with the improved behavior. He still acts out at times, gets frustrated, and throws fits but it's not horrible. But we also know that this could just be a "good" cycle. I pray that it's not and we are an upward swing! We are working on a lot of life skills. We still work on school but he's still learning how to live here and that's more important.

He watched the entire "Jesus" film in his language last week! He seemed to understand it and liked the part where it showed the empty tomb. :-)

Abi's birthday is tomorrow and I am not sure who is more excited, Peter or Abi. He went grocery shopping with me and wanted to buy her everything. Today we spent about 45 minutes discussing birthdays. I know what he wants to buy me for my birthday!

 Speaking of birthdays, we bought Peter his birthday gifts finally. This first picture is not what we bought but he loved this. He received a bicycle! We also bought him a Light Saber and Clone Mask. He likes Star Wars a lot. He started practicing riding his bicycle on Saturday and had it down by Monday! This was a child that wanted us to buy him a bike with training wheels! He learned to turn yesterday and now loves to ride all the time.

 Riding like a pro all the time now. Yes, I know, no helmet. He will not wear it. We are working on this. And please do not tell me to not let him ride his bike. If you do, I will send him to your house for about 2 hours a day. Just keepin' it real people.

Some things we have observed is he does not do well if he's played video games or watched television for to long. We have really limited his electronics time. He's not happy about that but it's been better for him. And us.

 He had his first speaking role in a play at ELO this week. He did wonderful! He said, "Lost Lamb" which was the title. He was so excited. If you watch this, you should be able to hear him. Turn it up and don't leave!

 And that's about all that is going on here. Here are a few other fun pictures!

 Singing "10,000 Reasons"

 Driving at Meme's. He loved it!

 Helping Abi cook. See? Progress!

 First Chick- Fil -A shake! This is the only thing he likes there.

 First bomb pop. He got the bomb pop at the Mexican Market which is also where he yelled "Crazy Gringo!" at a Mexican woman who was yelling at her child.

 We went to the park one day and Peter wanted to walk to his Meme's house. I'm glad I called her because she was not home.

 Mrs. Stacey came to work on Peter's nails last week. He didn't like it at the time but when she came over the next evening, he gave her a big hug all on his own! And his nails looked so much better.

 Playing at the park

Playing at ELO

The New Adoptee and His Friends

Friends...the one thing we prayed about before adopting. We prayed that Peter would have great friends who would help him stay on the path with Jesus and would like him for who he is. Eric, Andrew, Abi and I are surrounded by friends who do exactly this and we prayed that for Peter. We still do. Many of our friends boys were so excited to meet Peter. We, too, were excited. They met, then what? There is a new boy here that everyone has been talking about for months, prayed for, and helped raise funds for. But is it what they thought it would be?

We have been super impressed with how these wonderful the kids he has met have treated him. They have gone out of their way to include him and make him feel welcome. But it's hard being friends with a boy that comes from a different country, different language, different culture, and different life all together. They include him but it can only go so far when you can't speak. Peter is different. It's not bad different. It's just how things are right now. He is prone to fits when he isn't understood or gets frustrated easily when things do not get his way. He finds different things funny than they do. He doesn't get every game they play. He doesn't understand what they are saying. He is scared they will steal his toys and money. He doesn't understand true friendships yet. So they try and it can be confusing for both sides. So where do you go from here?

You keep trying. And that's what we've seen. These boys are not giving up. They keep trying even when it's hard. They do not understand it all but they keep trying and keep including him. That makes this mommy's heart smile. It makes me smile when I hear that a boy in his ELO class asked for Peter to be in his group. It makes me smile when a boy wants to come home after ELO to play with Peter even when he knows that Peter doesn't really get it yet. It makes me smile when a boy tells him mom that he thinks he and Peter will be good friends. It makes me smile when a group of boys yell bye to him when we leave ELO. It makes me smile when a boy at Sunday school works hard to teach him his name so they can be friends. It makes me smile when a boy jumps on a trampoline with him even when Peter plays rough. It makes me smile when I receive a text from another mom saying that her son said Peter is nice. It makes me smile when he sees his friend that he met in China and they have an inside joke between them. It makes me smile when Peter recognizes his friends and wants to tell them hello.

So what you do is get on your knees and thank the Lord for these sweet boys. You thank the Lord for Peter who keeps trying also. Can you imagine the confusion he feels? He had friends in China that he left behind now he's thrust into this world and told all these people want to be his friends. He has anger over some of this but they all keep trying. And for that, this mommy is very thankful. We know it's not easy for any of them but what a blessing it is to know these boy like him despite! We will keep praying that he will keep these friends for life and realize what a blessing they are. We pray that they will realize what a blessing he is to them also. And we thank the Lord He created friendships!

The most beautfiul sight

No News is Good News?

Or that's how the old saying goes anyways! Life hasn't been horrible just...different. My friend said it best when she said that it's not hard, it's exhausting. Yes! That's it. It's not extremely hard, don't get me wrong, it's hard but that's not what it is. I'm just so tired! I am very thankful that today is nice outside so the kids can play outside. We will finish school when it gets dark. ;-) And when it's nice outside, mommy can blog!

On Saturday, Eric, Peter, and Andrew went to help my stepmom get their yard cleaned up. My dad hurt his back and will be having surgery this Thursday. So their yard needed some attention. I heard that he did very well which doesn't surprise me. If he has something to focus on and it's outside, that is right up his ally. He was very excited to earn a bit of money. He still will not spend any of it though. ;-) Maybe he's a saver... Time will tell. On Saturday evening D and Caleb C. came over to play video games. Peter was so excited. He now calls Caleb 'Dumbo.' Thanks D! Peter was very excited to tell me he saw Dumbo at church on Sunday. Unfortunately we allowed him to play video games a bit too long and Sunday morning was a bit hard...

This is where I am going to brag on our adoption group Legacy at church. (instead of whining!) I was exhausted mentally on Sunday morning. This group surrounds each family and encourages them in ways that only they can. And this is the best part..not all of them are adoptive parents. There are 4 families in the group who are there to walk beside the families and encourage them. How incredible is that?! Each Sunday I feel so rejuvenated by this group and we cannot give enough thanks to God for them. The video series we are watching right now is exactly what I needed to hear. The encouragement and advice I received was so needed. The prayers offered brought tears to my eyes. The hugs given were just what the Dr. called for. The help offered is appreciated more than they could know. Can you tell that this group is incredible?! If you are an adopted parent, I encourage you to start an adoption group at your church. Ours started small but has grown steadily over the years. It's encouraging to hear how God is working in these families lives and what He's doing in our church body.

We enjoyed some nice relaxing time with at my mom's house after church. It was so nice outside that we visited in the backyard the entire time. I love this weather! We had a sweet Chinese-American woman from church come to our home that evening to help us speak with Peter. And speak he did! She was here for three hours! We learned many things that give us a bit of insight on some of his behavior. (not all!) We are glad to know these things so we can help him with them.

Monday was a good day. A & A had a dentist appointment and Peter did well for having to be there 2 hours! We bought a few games that Peter can learn to play without language (!) and listened to Abi and Peter's concert that evening. Good day! And he's still singing "10,000 Reasons!" And so are we!

Peter riding the tricycle at Nini and Papa's

First field trip! We went to see a group called the Black Violins

Riding the golf cart at Papa's

Spiked hair like daddy and Andrew

Singing his heart out to Jesus!

K-Drama?

The last few days have been pretty good. I never mentioned that Wednesday marked one month for our family of six! Just as I posted the last post, I heard a child screaming for me to come outside quickly. Our two dogs were fighting and our bigger dog had really hurt our little dog. For the record, they've never fought before. Both Abi and Peter had a friend over so all four kids saw it. Abi and Peter were very sad for the rest of the day and worried about Sissy. (our small dog) That evening when I asked Peter if he had a good day (through our translator) he said no. I asked why and he said because Sam and Sissy had gotten hurt. Poor thing! He was so sad. I told him about Valentines Day the next day and this when the bizarre conversation started..

He asked me if Valentines Day was a Korean Drama. Now the only reason I know what a Korean Drama is I just finished reading a fiction Christian book written about the Asian culture by an Asian writer. They call them K-Dramas. They are basically Korean soap operas that are not good at all. How does he know about these?! Then he started to ask about sinners, who's a sinner, why do we go to church. I tried very hard to explain it all to him. A lot of it was lost in translation so I am not sure what he understood. Not being able to converse in our language has to be our hardest obstacle.

Thursday was another good day. He enjoyed his first Valentines Day. He even thanked Abi for breakfast. She made some awesome donuts! Before we went to bed, Peter asked me, again through the translator, if we would love him again tomorrow. He has alluded to this the night before also. I assured him that we would all love him forever. I was so sad to think that he worries about this.

Today has been a good day also! Peter wanted to do school for 2 hours! Two hours! What a difference! Now here is the best news...After we eat breakfast, we have prayer time. We take praises, prayer requests, and everyone takes a turn praying. The last couple of mornings Peter has asked to pray but looks to me to know what to say. Today he prayed all on his own!! His sweet prayer was this: Thank you God for Ninnie, Papa, Mommy, Daddy, Abi, Andrew, Meme, um (at this point I tried to help him but he told me "I got it!") and Pop! Amen." I could have cried! Again, he doesn't really understand it all but this is a huge step. Then this afternoon he had turned on the radio. He loves music. I could hear him humming 'I'll Fly Away' like he had heard it before. When the song '10,000 Reasons' came on, he cranked it up and started singing the song. He knew the entire song! The entire song! I was so thrilled! What a moment!!! I adore worshiping with my children and this moment meant so much to me! I so wish you could all see it but he didn't want me to record it. (understandably!)  We are going to keep praying for this sweet boy to accept the Lord he is singing about!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

So I just wrote a huge, long rant but erased it all. LOL You did not need to hear that. That's not what this blog is for and I refuse to let someone else still my joy! (Be proud Teresa, be proud!)

I've had many of you ask me how I have time to blog. Remember that I brought home a ten year old boy and he lives with siblings. He loves to play outside and he's given a bit of video game time each day. I take those times to blog. I want to be able to look back and see how God has moved and changed us. I didn't blog enough during the process and regret that already. This is our personal journey but I share because our prayer is that someone will be touched by something we share. Maybe you will even want to adopt! ;-)

Peter's had two great days. Granted, today is over yet but so far, so good! Yesterday was the first day that felt like 'normal', well our new normal. That was so nice. Today was ELO and Peter loves ELO. He is already making friends and that makes this mommy smile. That has been a prayer, still is, that Peter would have his own group of friends, along with his siblings. He hugged me goodbye at ELO then headed off to see his friends. He hugged me today at ELO (that beats this handshake I was given last time ;-)!) during break then played soccer with all the boys. He had a great time at CFA afterwards. I am so glad that he's enjoying making new friends, despite not speaking the same language. Today Jamison came home to play with him and Andrew and Abi were both given a chance to be with friends too. Win-win for all. Today Peter showed his truly compassionate side. His friend Sam was hurt during P.E. P.E is the last class for them and it happened in the last 3 minutes. So we were not able to see how he was doing. Peter was so worried. He asked multiple times about him and once we came home, he brought me a phone and asked me to call Sam to check on him. I love that he's making friendships and is showing compassion!

He did say his first Chinese curse word yesterday. :-/ He knew it was wrong and it gave us a chance to share how our words need to be pleasing to the Lord, how we know which words are pleasing to the Lord, etc. Like I've said, every moment is a teaching moment!

Thanks for reading!! Your prayers are truly coveted. This is not an easy journey. I journal it but it cannot all be put into words. I'm so happy that things are going so well but I still do not feel like myself yet. And that's ok. I am right where the Lord wants me. (I hope) It's amazing to see Him in each and every moment.

Ice Cream Sundaes, a meltdown, and Chinese New Year

This weekend was a busy one! On Friday night we had our first annual Ice Cream Sundae Night. I challenged the kids to go without (major) sweets during the week and we would have an all out ice cream sundae night on the weekend. They did great, choosing p&b crackers, fruit, etc. so we had a great assortment of things to put on our ice cream Friday night. And there was no guilt for me because I did well during the week! (Of course, after looking at pictures, I feel some guilt.)

On Saturday, Uncle Phillip, Aunt Raegan, Nathan, Jacob and Isabelle came over to celebrate Chinese New Year a day early. We had so much fun seeing them in their traditional outfits! We also did the traditional red envelopes and tea with them. We had waited to give them their gifts from China so it was almost like a real Chinese New Year. Almost..

After they left, Jenna, our adoption social worker came over to do our one month post adoption placement. It was great to see her again. She will be traveling to China soon to bring her daughter home so we enjoyed sharing our stories. After she left, we hung around the house because it was so dreary outside. Peter also said his very first sentence! He told our dog Sissy to go to her house and when she obeyed, he was jumping up and down with excitement! We were just as excited! Then the meltdown..

Peter did not like something that Abi did and reacted in a way that was not good. At all. Eric had to really get on to him and for the first time, we saw tears. Tears are ok. We were able to reassure him that despite what he did, we all still loved him very much. And despite that we did not like his action, we are all still a family and nothing will change that. While this was not fun to deal with, it was good for us.

Sunday was the big Chinese New Year celebration! Here are some of the foods that we had. There was SO much food and it was SO good!

Here are some of the decorations:

We were able to give my nephew Lewis and niece Penny their traditional outfits. We were so excited that my sisters family drove from Temple to celebrate with us!

We had shirts made for my older nephews that said cousin in Chinese

 We did the traditional red envelopes with all the kids and then chowed down! Here are a few of my other favorite shots from the day. Thank you Chels for all the wonderful pictures!

 And then on to Monday...whew..Peter woke up well but once we sat down for breakfast and it was over. The bad mood started as did the anger toward Abi. He was fit to be tied. We are trying a new approach and we let Abi have an extra privilege when he was ugly. He was UPSET! He thought telling me that he was sorry would help the situation. Nope. I was thrilled he said he was sorry but I was not caving. I told him he could try to earn this privilege later in the day. Total meltdown. Again, I am ok with the meltdowns. I scooped him up in my arms, held him while he cried and once he calmed down, we "talked" about family, obeying, sisters, etc. He seemed to get it and was fine after that. We took a very long morning break, 2 hours, and then we did a bit of school. Not much, but long enough that Abi and Andrew could concentrate on their schoolwork with some quiet. Then one of his biggest accomplishments: He built a Lego car by himself!! He was so excited. We are so proud of him! So again, when it's bad, it's bad. But when it's good, it's very, very good! And yes, we would still adopt him all over again. This is part of it and I even like this part. We are making progress. Small progress, but progress. Tonight he did earn the privilege of playing Halo and since Andrew had Boy Scouts, he played on Abi's team against Daddy. This worked out great and they played very nicely together. See? Progress!

School and Adopting

Our school does not look like it used to. We didn't really have typical days, or so I thought. They used to be actually pretty typical. And much more chaotic. We did ask the kids to really tame down the extracurricular so we could focus on family for a while so we are now not running around with our heads cut off. Andrew still does Boy Scouts but that is not a huge time commitment. They still do church activities but that's just a given for us. ;-)

Here is some of what has changed and why it's good for us:
-My almost 11 yr. daughter cooks breakfast each morning for us. Yes, you read that right. She does this as part of her chores and loves it! She plans the menu, gets up on her own and starts the preparations. We are able to sit down every morning and eat a well balanced meal together. (except dad. Sometimes he eats on the run because we eat at 8) She does a wonderful job on this and we are so proud of her. What she is learning: 1. Cooking skills. Let's face it, most women grow up and need to know how to cook at one point in their lives. (so do men and that's a 'hole 'nother post! I will tell you Andrew can cook any meal for us that we ask!) 2. Planning. Because she does the cooking, she is allowed to plan. She is learning what works and what doesn't work. She learns what takes a lot of time and what she is capable of. We give her pretty much free reign on this and it's worked. If she needs help, we step in. 3. Independence and knowing how to think for herself. I don't think that needs to be explained! *This also gives me a chance to have quiet time, work out and shower!

-Schoolwork happens when it happens. Well the rest of the worlds viewpoint on schoolwork. Written papers, math, etc. This is required every day but we do it when we can.  Right now we are learning to be a family. This is huge for all of us. What they are learning in the process: 1. How to work with others, even when they are difficult. One of the biggest parts of any job is learning to work with others nicely. You are going to be pretty miserable in your job if you can't work with others nicely. So while Peter is being ugly to Abi, Abi is learning forgiveness and grace. To us, this is way more important than long division and verbs. She still has time to learn that. I know lots of adults who do not know forgiveness and grace, myself included, so we are thrilled she is learning this now. When Peter is going through Andrew's things and touching, touching, touching, Andrew is learning patience. He is learning it's ok to share but to have limits when needed. 2. They are both learning patience. Patience to wait on mom when she not readily available. Patience when a 10 yr. old is on the floor kicking and whining and mom must deal with that. How many impatient adults do you know? (don't you dare point to me!) They are learning that they are not the world and this world does not exist just for them. That makes me very happy because this sickness seems to be plaguing our society. 3. They are now becoming the teachers. What they have learned in life, they are not passing onto Peter. This could be vocabulary, manners, math, anything. Right now, Abi is teaching how to give the dogs nice commands and have them listen. This may sound strange but it will come in handy for Peter. He is learning to never raise his hand to a dog, to speak nicely and you will more than likely get a better result and that there are sometimes reward when you finally listen. Some good, solid life lessons I think!

So that is life at the Akin Academy! I'm sure some people are hyperventilating when they read this but oh well! This is what works for us and we are great with it. Life skills are so important and God placed us in a family to learn them. I will be updating on our weekend soon. It was...good....but for now..laundry and lunch are calling!

Encouragement

Just as you start to feel a bit down, the Lord sends along about 200 people to come along and encourage you. I cannot tell you all how much I appreciate the encouragement. Seriously, it has been awesome to open my email and see encouraging notes from other adopting moms, to open my fb page and have a message from a friend who gets it and has gone through the same thing, to receive another email with suggestions, and yet another with information on who to talk to. My family has been encouraging, friends have been encouraging, even my dentist was encouraging! Today Becky Auran came over and she encouraged me more than she could even know. My dentist, who's wife is from another country, gave me great encouragement about his speech also. Thank you Lord for the wonderful gift of family and friends! We've only had 1-2 incidents yesterday and today. He was very quick to get angry and then is very quick to apologize when he knows he has been caught. Today he tried to tell me that it was Abi's fault. No go. She has no reason to walk up and just hit him. She's never been a hitter. She just gets angry. ;-) I can usually give her the evil eye and worm the truth out of her. As I was talking to him, I was doing that to her and she was shaking her head and just had tears in her eyes. From what I can figure out is that when he went to hit her again, she grabbed his arm (not in a mean way) and told him forcefully "NO!" We've told her she could do that if we not right there and he goes to hit her again. I very sternly (this was the first time I have been very firm) told him he could not be hit Abi. He did not like firm mommy and I did not see any more behavior. Apparently he did hit her once while I was back with the dentist but she said he did apologize. Progress! He did apologize without being caught. The thing is, when he's not doing this, he's her best friend. They sit on the floor and draw together, race their scooters outside, jump on the trampoline together, build Lego cities, etc. They play together all the time but when something doesn't go the way he thinks it should go, Abi is always to blame. Now I will say it's gotten better over the past couple of days which has been nice. This could stem from something in the orphanage, someone in the orphanage, who knows? We are just going to keep working and praying! I must brag on Abi and Andrew both. They never hold these moments against him. Abi does get her feelings hurt but she will quickly try again. Eric and I have reassured her multiple times that this should end (we pray it does. And we see patterns that it may..) and that we love her very much and we are very proud of her. We also allowed her to have a friend over the other day and she's going to her all girl book clue tomorrow even though we had a family field trip planned. She needed this more and I know she's excited about it. Andrew has almost always had his own room. I am a big believer of sharing. I think it helps you later. (This coming from someone who married someone who has never shared a room. It's annoying at times!) At first it was fun but now...well, he's realized this new 'friend' is not moving out. ;-) He's handling it very maturely. We've given him a few extra privileges such as staying up 15 minutes later than the others and playing a video game. I was so proud of him when he decided not to go to a Boy Scout campout because he was scared Peter would 'freak out' if Andrew was gone overnight. That was so thoughtful and completely his idea! We encouraged him to go. Peter's doing better with school too. I do struggle with knowing how long I should school. We've always had the feeling that life is school (that's why we homeschool) and right now, every minute Peter is learning something new. It may not be because we are sitting down and I am actually teaching but it may be discovering something new in our home, going to a new place, etc. Today I put in a Letter Factory video for him and he did very well. He seemed to like it and the song helped us during our 'school' hours. It's been such a long time since I've had to teach every subject. Every year the kids gain more independence and now they are on their own a lot. Yes, we discuss it and review but I do not actually 'teach' anymore. So this has been new for me also. We are learning again together! He loves certain things and gets embarrassed if he does not know. He doesn't cringe in embarrassment or get angry, he just doesn't like that he doesn't know. So for now, we are working about 1.5 hours each day. That's long enough for both us. ;-) We introduced chores today. Peter loves money (ha!) and really likes the idea of having his own. He started feeding the dogs today. He did very well with it. The only problem we had was Abi, who's had this chore for years, showing him how to do it. She did a good job trying to explain but would sometimes just take it from him. I told her to hold off and if he did it wrong, we would step in. This seemed to work because he would thank me for that and if we showed him after he tried and it didn't work, he was very thankful to Abi. So he gets 3 quarters each day, well on pay day which we marked on the calendar along with the days he can have ice cream, and he's very excited. It was funny when he was trying to tell me that Abi needed to feed the chickens (which has never been her chore!) and he would feed the dogs for money. It was like listening to Andrew when he starts a sentence with 'actually.' He even closed his eyes like he was saying, silly women. LOL Best news of all.....He's been asking to pray!!! He wants to pray for each meal, with help with the words of course. This is huge!! He may not understand Who he is praying to but he knows it's important and it's what we do as a family. That's the first step. We will get to the point that he knows Who he is thanking and will start to ask question. We are thrilled that he is asking and wants to do this all on his own! He also enjoys church because of all the awesome kids there and that is great also. He may not get anything from the words but he feels accepted and loved there so he doesn't mind going. He recognized the word Bible in a video the other day and was very excited! One funny story from yesterday..He was playing outside and a bug flew up his nose. I figured this out through hand motions. Each time he told the story, the bug was bigger. By the end, the bug was bigger than his face and knocked him to the ground. Always the drama king! ;-) He's perfect for our family!!! He also will let (ok, he asks!) Abi put girly stuff on him and he prances around acting like a Southern Bell. Tonight I tried to get a picture and he ran away screaming. His dad was glad to know he wasn't comfortable like this. Please know that I have read each and every note that has been sent to me. They mean more than you know. I may have not responded yet but I am taking everything you said to heart and plan on trying some of the wonderful techniques and ideas that were sent our way. I will respond as soon as I can but my snippets of time are just that, snippets! 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there...We love you all and THANK YOU!!!! I plan on writing a blog soon about adopting. If you've ever thought about it, you will want to read it. It's an amazing journey we've joined and one I am glad the Lord sent us on. If you could, please lift up the Roark family. They are adopting Peter's friend Carlee Ming Wei from the same orphanage and have run into some bumps. She will age out in October so pray earnestly!!!! Sorry this was so long and you were not reward with pictures. We've been boring!

Rollercoaster

Bringing Peter home has been a roller coaster. That's the way change always is. It hasn't been horrible but there have been some hard times. But there have also been some great times! Saturday was a good day. We let Peter sleep as long as he wanted and he slept until 10:30! I think he really needed that. Aunt Brandy, Uncle Tommy, Zack, and Jaxon joined us for lunch and visiting. It took a while for Peter to warm up but once he did, he and Jaxon became fast friends. They are a lot alike. According to Memaw Pat, Jaxon came home and exclaimed that Peter was the Chinese version of him. ;-) I went and ran a few errands and the kids had a nerf war! Ariana surprised Abi and came over for the afternoon. She was so excited because she really needed some girl time. The Sutton's came over for small group and we enjoyed catching up. We made sure to prepare Peter that daddy and Andrew would not be there when he got up because Eric was opening the church and Andrew was helping him. I guess he forgot and the next morning he woke up and quickly found me to ask where Andrew was. :-) I reminded him and he was ok with it. We made it to church (on time!) and Peter wanted attend class with Abi. He loved it so much he decided to go to the 4-5-6 service with her. Abi said he looked a bit bored but he can't understand what they are saying so that is understandable. All of the teachers said he acted very good so we were very happy about that. We met Chelsea at Luby's for lunch then came home to wait for the Super Bowl. I'm not sure if Peter was ok with eating out. He looked a little down that we weren't coming home. Hmm...For the last oh, maybe 7 years, we've had a Super Bowl party. It was very strange not to have a house full of people but we enjoyed our family party. Abi did a great job preparing snacks. We had homemade tortilla chips, chocolate chip cookies, carrots, fruit, salsa and m&m's. Peter was not super impressed with the Super Bowl and we all lost interest before the halftime show which we did not watch. UGH! So icky. We switched to America's Funniest Home Video's. Andrew and I stayed up to watch the game while everyone else went to bed. I so enjoyed this time with him. He's had a lot of changes through this adoption; sharing a room, losing his only spot as the boy in the family, etc. He was talking a lot and it was great! Then Monday....we had decided to let Peter wake up on his own. We've had so many morning problems we thought sleeping in and waking up on his own was the best way. Not so sure about that.....Peter woke up and have a vendetta against Abi. I have mentioned that he is not always nice to her but he really had it out for her that morning. I finally made him face the wall in a chair and sat with him. I wanted him to know he was in trouble but that I wasn't going to leave him. I also called Eric for some suggestions. This is where it gets interesting. From what we know, Peter came to the orphanage at a very early age. So he's never really had a family unit. But he still knew that mommy calling daddy was not a good thing. He begged me not to call. I did and Eric suggested that we take his DS for a short time but give a warning. I took him to his room and talked with him. I asked him if he could be nice to Abi. He said no. I used the translator thinking he didn't understand and he still said no. I asked him if he wanted to lose his DS. He was fine with that. This floored me. At this point, Eric drove up. Peter saw him through the window and started saying no daddy! He really does not like to disappoint Eric. Eric came in and we worked together as a team. He finally understood he needs to be nice to Abi because she has done nothing to him. He cannot make his "hmmph" noise at her anymore. We stayed on top of him the rest of the day, including when he glared at her during dinner. We handled it nicely and didn't force Abi on him (quiet the opposite) and he kept seeking her out. We prayed about it at bedtime even though he doesn't understand and prayed with Abi also. She was so hurt. She is so nice to him, always playing with him, giving up her time, buying him gifts, etc. Eric and I talked and decided that if continued we would contact a Chinese woman at our church who is a mom to help us talk with him about it. Onto the next day...Peter woke up on his own at 7:15 and with a smile on his face! He was so pleasant and enjoyable! We started school (drat! I just remembered we never did Bible!!!) and while it was exhausting at times, he did pretty well. He and Abi got along very well today and we had only one problem. He tried to say he hit her 'by accident' but his daddy quickly caught onto that. ;-) Memaw Pat joined us for dinner and he was great the entire time. So Tuesday was a good day! Life is a journey and it can only be taken day by day. Tomorrow may be different but that's ok. Peter came from such a different background and we aren't giving up. Sometimes I want to crawl in a fetal position and cry but the sun will rise tomorrow and most importantly, my God is still God. He is still here and always offers His peace. He loves each member of our family and wants the best for us. That's what keeps me going. He brought Peter into our family and I am so thankful. That good outweighs the bad, even on the bad days!

Peter with his new things in his room.

Enjoying outside

Peter made me this heart on Monday!

Peter has seen pictures of Eric and Andrew with spiky hair and really wanted to try it. Isn't it adorable?!

School...I think the pictures say it all! ;-)